Bath Heritage Days: Downtown weekend party

BATH — Sometimes Jennifer Geiger looks around downtown and sees a great staging ground for a party.

As director of Main Street Bath, she is one of many people who have spent the past year planning this year’s 39th Bath Heritage Days, possibly the biggest party of all in the City of Ships.

From the waterfront to downtown, the city will hum with events of all kinds for people of all ages, from Friday, July 1, to Independence Day on Monday, July 4.

“It’s shaping up to be a great festival, and I’m looking forward to it,” Geiger said.

She particularly praised the music lineup. There are the reggae sounds of Mystic Bowie, who is expected to deliver a high-energy performance at 9 p.m. July 3. Also at Waterfront Park will be Robert Washington, back with his Elvis Presley tribute performance at 3 p.m. July 2.

Pat Colwell and the Soul Sensations will offer original music in the flavor of classic rock, blues and soul music at 8 p.m. on Independence Day. Changes in Latitude, a Jimmy Buffet tribute band, should whet the appetite for many a parrot head at 9 p.m. July 2. Both performances will be at Waterfront Park.

The Chili-Chowder Fest will be held at Library Park at 3 p.m. July 2. A strongman contest will take place at noon that day on the waterfront, followed at 1 p.m. by the firefighters’ muster at the north end of Front Street. A firefighters’ hand-tub parade, running along Middle, Centre and Front streets, will precede the muster at 10:30 a.m.

The Front Street Shuffle antique car show will be held at 10 a.m. July 3. The keel laying for the “Virginia,” a replica of a pinnace built at Popham Beach more than 400 years ago, will take place at the waterfront freight shed at 1 p.m. that day.

On July 4, a one-mile fun run at 7:45 a.m. will be followed by a five-mile road race, starting at City Hall at 8:30 a.m. The Independence Day parade will be at 11 a.m., following a 10 a.m. pre-parade show. A Kennebec River boat parade will take place at 1:30 p.m. The Strawberry Shortcake Festival will be held at the Cosmopolitan Club at 894 Washington St. at noon, and fireworks will end Heritage Days with the traditional display over the Kennebec River at 9 p.m.

Smokey’s Greater Shows will provide carnival events each day of the festival. Log onto bathheritagedays.com for a full schedule of events.

A Maine native and Colby College graduate, Alex has been covering coastal communities since 2001, and currently handles Bath, Topsham, Cumberland, and North Yarmouth. He and his wife, Lauren, live in the Portland area, and Alex recently released his third album of original music.